New fish and a new baby

[kaitym]

A couple of mollies (was told the black one was a male and the orange one was female) and a newly dicovered guppy fry!!

[joy13]

The orange molly is very pretty. Your black molly seems to clamp its fins keep an eye on that. It could be just stress of the new tank.

That orange one makes me want to get some creamsicle mollies for my new tank.

I can't be 100% with just the one picture but the orange one maybe the male. I like to watch the fish for a few minutes before deciding because sometimes a female will fold up the fin.

[missileman]

Nice looking fish.
I am almost certain the orange one is a male. The anal fin looks like a gonopodium to me, females anal fins are rounded.
Can you get a better pic of the anal fin on the black one?

[kaitym]

I can try, the black one is camera shy. The others like to come right up and see whats goin on. I'm thinking of exchanging my guppies for mollies. Might that reduce some stress? They like to swarm him and follow him around.

[kaitym]

Here's the best ones I could get without removing him from the tank.. I think that would have stressed him out even more.

[missileman]

He looks like a male also.Here is a simple pictorial.

[kaitym]

Ok. So the people at my lfs have no idea what they're talking about lol.. Thanks for the help. Could having two males be the reason that the black one is stressed out? Should I bring one of the males back and ask for a female?

[darkmule27]

If you take one male back, get 2 or more females. One male will harass one female to death.

[missileman]

I have had problems with male mollies not getting along well together but don't know if that is common and I don't think they will hurt each other. The dominant male will chase other males who will tend to hide more.
A male will chase a female incessantly wanting to mate so it is good to have a couple of females to take a bit of stress off.

[kaitym]

Was considering taking all of my fish back and getting a betta instead. I'm just not at home as much as I expected to be, and taking care of them is becomming a juggling act. Are there any major downsides to having a betta that I should be aware of?

[joy13]

The can have health problems but all and all they are pretty healthy. It is also hard only to keep once because they are such little beggers.

[kaitym]

The one I got now has the entire 5.5 gallon tank all to himself but he only stays in the back corner near the heater (set at 78-79) and keeps blowing bubbles on it. Every few minutes he'll blow a new bubble. Don't know why he's doing this.. Any suggestions??

[shadylady23]

I used to have a betta and from what I've read they blow a "bubble bed" when they are happy. Then, if they were to meet a female she would lay her eggs in his bed.

[cwt]

the betta bubble nest is for breeding, they'll do it whether there's a female around or not. If he stays by the heater all the time I wonder whether the whole tank is at 78 degrees or not; they supposedly like the hotter temps.